Guidance

Making government datasets ready for AI

Guidelines and best practices that will help make government datasets ready for AI and unlock the full potential of artificial intelligence.

• From: Government Digital Service and Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
• Published: 19 January 2026

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Guidelines and best practices for making government datasets ready for AI

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Guidelines and best practices for making government datasets ready for AI

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The UK government has developed a framework to make public sector data AI-ready. This will help unlock the full potential of artificial intelligence by ensuring government datasets are high quality, well-governed, and easy to use. AI-ready data means accurate, complete, consistent, secure, and enriched with metadata so it can be trusted and understood by both humans and machines.

This new framework sets out best practices for preparing AI-ready datasets, building on principles like Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable (FAIR). It cover standards for quality, governance, metadata, and APIs, alongside oversight measures such as human-in-the-loop checks and clear roles for data stewardship. This approach aims to position the UK as a global leader in responsible data management for AI.

Published 19 January 2026